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Some Suggestions


Foxx
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I'm about to give you guys some feedback and a bunch of suggestions to consider. Most, I know, won't tickle your fancy but maybe some might be helpful. And of course it is only feedback, so don't take anything I say as a demand.

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First Impressions

Well, it's kind of hard to say. This is because I already knew this was a large site with a lot of good content. So, I came here (almost a year ago for the first time) looking for what, I guess you could say, knew you had.

 

However, if I was someone random that came across your site I would have some opinions on it that go both ways. A positive being that the content is well written and very helpful. Alternatively, I'd wouldn't be too fond of the look.

 

Style & Look *Referring to the default Xbox 360 Style

(Forum)

While the style is fine and fits the niche of your forum fine, obviously, it tends to be a little repetitive with the Xbox Community. I'm under the impression this was custom made for you from CompleteGFX so it is technically 100% original, but there is another version of it made by vBSkinWorks that is extremely similar and often used on Xbox forums. A very nice feature is the main banner and how it shows your Gamerpic, info, and last played games but is not in the form of the Gamercard you usually see.

 

(Site)

One of the most notable things about the site is that it goes great with the forum. It basically has the same theme and obviously has the same banner with your profile right on it. This works fine and I definitely prefer the site/forum to have the same skin but if you were to change the forum's skin it would be nice to update the site as well.

 

Layout & Navigation

(Forum)

This is probably the biggest negative of x360a - actually, it is one of the only real negatives. The forum is way too stretched out. Way-too stretched out. I understand you want to have a forum for every game that you have listed on the site... and you can do this, but in a much more organized way. First of all I would probably get rid of the sub-forum organizer hack EVEN if it does help to find forums easier. Already the forum will be half the size. Now I would probably set the depth of the sub-forums to 1 (or is it 0?) so none of them are shown on the index. Now we just see the parent forums - getting somewhere. Next I'd reorganize the parent forums and categories. You can also combine and ditch a few. Hm... we'll experiment:

 

-Category

--Parent Forum

---Sub-forum

 

-Xbox360Achievements.org

--Announcements

--Community Discussion (Feedback, Questions)

--Newbie Lounge (Introductions, Support)

--The Community

---1,000/1,000 Clubs

---x360a Clan Discussion

---Submit Achievement Guides

---Contests

 

-General Xbox 360 Discussion

--Xbox 360 News!

--Xbox LIVE & Xbox Marketplace

--Hardware & Accessories

--Game Impressions & Reviews

--General Xbox 360 Discussion

 

-Retail Xbox 360 Games

--Genre 1

---Games List 1 (Only shown in Forum Display)

--Genre 2

---Games List 2 (Only shown in Forum Display)

--Genre 3

---Games List 3 (Only shown in Forum Display)

--Genre 4

---Games List 4 (Only shown in Forum Display)

--Genre 5

---Games List 5 (Only shown in Forum Display)

[And So On]

 

-Arcade Xbox 360 Games

--Genre 1

---Games List 1 (Only shown in Forum Display)

--Genre 2

---Games List 2 (Only shown in Forum Display)

--Genre 3

---Games List 3 (Only shown in Forum Display)

--Genre 4

---Games List 4 (Only shown in Forum Display)

--Genre 5

---Games List 5 (Only shown in Forum Display)

[And So On]

 

-Other Video Game Discussion

--Nintendo

--Playstation

--Original Xbox

--General Video Game Chat

 

-Miscellaneous Discussion

--Graphics & Art (Web Design, Photography, "Forum Signatures")

--Entertainment & Electronics (Tech, Media: Movies, Music, TV)

--The Sports Bar

--Garage Sale

--Miscellaneous Discussion

 

So that is a very rough layout that I just thought of right now. Again, just suggestions - I'm like 90% positive it won't even be read.

 

I know it would be a lot of work but it would REALLY spice things up if each forum had a juicy description about the size of the paragraph above and had periods at the end. This would be a long boring process but I tend to write nice forum descriptions so I could help with that if you want. Other than everything is fine. The User CP I see is modified which is not bad nor good and I don't think there is much else to say about the layout of the forum.

 

(Site)

It gets the job done. Period. Yes, I can find what I'm looking for. Yes, it is easy to use. But is it interesting? Honestly, it kind of reminds me of a Joomla! site. That is not a bad thing but I think that since it's not it could look a little less like one and look a little more like its own. The ads can be cut down (but obviously not if you need them to pay for the site). It also doesn't scream "WE HAVE A LOT OF GOOD CONTENT. COME HERE TO GET ACHIEVEMENT HELP FOR EVERY GAME." What I mean is if I come to the site for the first time I may take a glance and not really think much of it. Basically, the "Retail Games" link on the navigation is the heart of x360a. But it just doesn't show that. Maybe instead the navigation could be broken down. Where it says navigation it could say "Retail Xbox 360 Achievements" and then have a bunch of genres listed or A-D, E-H, etc. This way people are sure not to miss what they came for.

 

And of course have other navigation categories such as Arcade games, Community (Forum, About, Contact, etc.) and anything else you guys might add or already have. And the affiliates on the right nav is great. I love when websites use a right nav. I also think the news could be a bit cleaner. Just try to keep a strict format. For example, if it is just saying you added a few games to your site have a format for that saved in Notepad for use every time. And have the "Discuss on Forums" link, link to an actual thread in maybe the "Xbox 360 News!" forum. If the update is for something else then keep a basic formant for that kind of stuff too.

 

Community

Feel: I feel like I'm isolated from everyone with all of these forums that stretch out the whole forum. And the dead stickys that could use an updating. On the site I do feel welcomed and "happy" when I find what I'm looking for. :-)

 

Activity: You obviously have an active site here. However, some of the forums make the site look a lot less active than it is. So if you set up the forums more along the lines of my example it would really cut down the amount on the index page and show a lot more "new post" icons.

 

Staff: The forum seems to be well monitored and the site updated frequently by the staff team. I suggest enabling the "View Forum Leaders" page and changing the staff names. (Bold for admin, italic for mod, whatever.) It really helps to tell who is staff and not.

 

Quality & Friendliness: There are a lot of quality posts and stickys, especially all of the achievement guides. I also like that you have a contest, clan, and submit your own achievement guide area. The leaderboards on the site are also a huge plus. Great job in this area.

 

Final Summary

So you have a very nice site a forum here. You have activity and size on your size which makes anything that much better. And I think we all know that your content is super helpful and unique since you're one of the first to have a website dedicated to achievements. I do highly suggest the forum reorganization and maybe some new looks. Overall it great and will continue to grow and help Xbox'ers around the world in my opinion.

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Phew! I'm tired. Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this and will consider my stuff maybe even make the best out of it. Again, - just suggestions! Don't take anything I said the wrong way or think that I'm putting you guys down when I suggest something be different. I like x360a and will continue to use it. After all, this is a feedback forum... you asked for it! :p

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wow that ust have took you some time and it was very well thought out. I will edit this post again when i re-read the whole thing because i didn't understand half of it the first time.

 

Impressions: The sub forum would hard to do and it would not work very well becaues i just look through quickly to see which ones have new posts, i scroll through them pretty quickly and just look. I don't tend to post anywhere unless i have something important to say. To add on the fourm skin it really depends which one you are using we do have a brand new one that someone made, but there are a bunch of differnet ones if you don't like it.

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It also doesn't scream "WE HAVE A LOT OF GOOD CONTENT. COME HERE TO GET ACHIEVEMENT HELP FOR EVERY GAME.":p

 

I'm going to be honest and say I didn't read that whole spiel, but you don't think a website called Xbox 360 Achievements doesn't kind of announce right off the bat what we're about?

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I meant the navigation. Most people probably use the site to get help for their retail (and Arcade) games. The only official link seems to be the "Retail Games" link. And that is what I was referring to. Not the whole site.

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Personally, I like how it is. Yes, it's extremely long and the site seems fairly inactive, but it depends on your time zone. At certain points, this site is so active it takes me forever to even post back to majority of the things. Also, the activity in the game forums are dependent on how many people are here. Since the initial rush has been down, most game forums aren't very active mainly because all the problems have been fixed. People can go into a forum, read the achievement guide or read through 2-3 pages of posts finding their problem.

 

What you're suggesting is making it too simple. Sometimes simplicity to a certain degree is actually a fault and I think in this case it is. Why mess with a working formula? The site flows very well. I've gotten used to it since i've been here for more then a year. If it changed, I would honestly hate it. I love simplicity just as much as the next guy, but changing the forums that much will turn off many of the veterans. I also think most of the roamers find it very easy. Hit CTRL+F type your game and you've found it. Or just scroll to that section.

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The xbox 360 skin is a default vBulletin skin. The x360a one is custom and is now the only one we support for new features- we just leave the other ones up as some people prefer the other ones.

 

Ads can be cut down? We have one advert, its not exactly a lot. We have links to sit ethat a lot of members use that we can earn commision on- if people use the sites anyway us getting 5% helps towards some of the serevr costs.

 

As for the game lists- as it is people can just use CTRL F to find a Game they are looking for. Some games could be in different catagories- ie Cars could technically be under racing. If you have to open up sub-forums to check its just adding extra clicks.

 

If you dont look in a Catagory, ie Shooters, then you just minimise that section and its out of your way.

 

And if your aim is too minimise the length of the forums, adding a pragraph desription onto each catagory isnt going to help that. Plus I think it would just look weird. The Sports Bar doesnt need a rocket scientist to figure it out.

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  • 8 months later...
.

 

Why mess with a working formula? The site flows very well. I've gotten used to it since I've been here for more then a year. If it changed, I would honestly hate it.

 

 

Agreed, as I am still pretty new to the whole Forum Game, I have gotten used to the way it is all Run and Organized. If it changed, I would be Lost again.

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